The Gate Between Worlds
by Midnight Kayari
Summary: When a group of young girls discover the link to Amestris, they find themselves entangled in a string of dangerous adventures. Will they ever find their way back home? Or will they fall victim to the danger they all believed to be harmless entertainment?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

**Rhode Island, Earth – 2006**

_Any world that has ever been dreamed is real. Any being that has been imagined lives out its life in realms untouched by this world. The mind takes us to places far off that our bodies could not ever hope to go, and so from these worlds that our mind's eye sees, the imagination is born. But what would happen if the body as well as the mind passed through the gates to the other worlds? What if the people who could do this were not yet ready for such power?_

In a Middle School in Rhode Island, there lived a group of girls who were so close that they referred to themselves as Sisters. Originally, there were only three of them: Kiersten, Arianna, and Allison. As the years went by, their numbers seemed to grow and grow until their ranks increased to a full dozen. The other Sisters were named Jenna, Steph, Ashley, Sonia, Caitlyn, Mattie, the twins Lauren and Danielle, and another Lauren who they all called McMuffin to differentiate her from the other Lauren.

However, the bonds of the sisters were slowly crumbling away. Sonia had moved away a little less than a year ago, and Kiersten was planning to go back to her home in California. Caitlyn had arranged plans to go to a different High School than the rest of them, even though she was still going to remain in Rhode Island. Ashley and Arianna had never been the best of friends, nor was Steph close to Arianna, and once the Sisters began to leave, the glue that held them all together was sure to dissolve away with the time.

Kiersten and her friends were sitting in their usual places around the lunch table, discussing their daily lives with each other. Stephanie picked up a fork and twirled it around in her salad. Allison was chowing down on a bagel-pizza smothered in cheese.

Kiersten was re-doing her hair for the hundredth time. She just couldn't stand how it always managed to give her such a headache. She loved her waist-long golden hair, but it was so thick that it weighed quite a bit and was a pain in the neck, quite literally. She sighed and closed her bright blue eyes. She was an incredibly intelligent girl from California, who was a little air-headed, but her friends didn't seem to mind. She loved to write and hang out with her friends, who she considered to be her family. Lately, all she had been thinking about was going back to her home in California, and waiting for her acceptance letter into Presentation High School, and of course what she believed to be one of the ways in which the many meanings of life were taught, Fullmetal Alchemist. All day long she would repeat the phrases in her head.

"Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange."

"Kiersten, why do you want to leave us?" asked Steph, interrupting her friend's thoughts.

Steph was a relatively short young girl with light brown hair that sometimes appeared to be dark blonde. She was beautiful, and her features clearly showed the world of her English heritage. Steph was a bit of a spaz at times, but she was very intelligent. She loved reading above most other things, save for friendship and family.

"Yeah! Sonia already left us, but at least we know she didn't really want to abandon us!" added Arianna.

Arianna was a tall girl, though not nearly as tall as the twins, Lauren and Danielle. She had naturally blonde hair that was almost white, and it set nicely against her skin tone. Freckles dances across her slender, fair face in a beautiful sporadic design, tickling her features in a curious manner. The grey-blue-green of her eyes were rimmed with golden-brown suns that brightened up her face as if she were the happiest person in the known universe. She wore just a hint of make-up to bring out the rose colors in her cheeks.

"I'm not abandoning you guys, chill. I'm coming to visit you all during the summer anyways," replied Kiersten.

"Yeah right, you just don't love us anymore!" Steph jokingly accused. They all knew that Steph didn't really mean it.

"I just want to go home. Can we please drop the subject already?" complained Kiersten. This was the sixth or seventh time that Steph had asked her this question in the last 45 minutes. None of her friends wanted her to go back to California.

There were still 20 minutes left of lunch hour. Then Ally spoke. "What if it were possible to cross the gate and go to Amestris? We could probably do it if we knew how."

Ally was a girl with an average-height for her age. She had beautiful dark tan skin that showed her Philippine and Italian heritage and dark brown hair to offset the natural glow of her face. Her eyes were a chocolate brown color that seemed to draw you in with their laughter. She was a spaz if there ever was one. It was never a good idea to let her have sugar or caffeine, as she would become an uncontrollable giggling animal. Even without the sugar, she was a maniac. But you couldn't help but love her. She was just so…loveable.

"Ally, Amestris doesn't really exist. It's just a make-believe world from a TV show," replied Steph.

"Don't you know, Steph? Any world that was written about becomes real. You just have to find the Link into that world, or create one if you know The Art," laughed Kiersten.

"You guys are so obsessed! You shouldn't believe everything you read and see on TV. Especially since Amestris is a cartoon world." Steph didn't exactly like the idea of two of her best friends becoming so obsessed with a show that they thought all of its concepts could happen in reality. Sure, she always played around with the useless transmutation circles they all drew, but she was just joking around and having fun. She didn't actually begin to mix reality with fiction like she thought Allison and Kiersten had begun to do.

"It would be interesting to meet up with Edward and Alphonse, wouldn't it? Ha-ha-ha…but that was practically an entire century ago; even if we did find the Link into their world we wouldn't see them," laughed Ally.

"Not true! The Gates do not have restrictions of time or space. If you go through, it is true that you will most likely will wind up in your world's era, but the time and place within the world you are linking to that you land is entirely random. You could land any time, any place within the world of Amestris. It all really depends on where the other part of your soul is anchored down, in other words your alternate dimension self…" Kiersten began to define the technical terms of other worlds as if they were a real thing that real people could actually do research on. Her chatter of logic went on and on until the lunch period was over. The girls then went their separate ways to their different classes.

About two class periods later, Kiersten ran into Ally's little sister, Jenna. She was also one of the friends Kiersten had, and she was equally obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist. She looked much like her sister, except for the fact that she wore glasses and had a slightly more rounded face. She was also taller than Ally.

"Hey, Kiersten!" said Jenna over-enthusiastically. "What's up? What class are you going to next?"

"Hi, Jenna! I'm going to American History."

"I've got to go the other direction. See you after school, bye!" The two girls then went to their next classes.

The rest of the day went by rather fast. Kiersten was at her locker when Ally and Jenna practically pounced on her. "You always take so long, Naki! You don't have to re-organize your locker every time you open the dang thing! Ha-ha!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm almost done. Hold on for a second." Kiersten grabbed her Literature book and placed it gently inside her bright blue backpack. She picked up her tan and beige striped sweater and zipped it up, the "NY" on the zipper dangling slightly. "Let's get going, the faster we get home, the faster we can look for that Link to Amestris, and get Girl scouts done and over with."

Now, Kiersten had founded an exclusive club she called "The Alchemists Guild." When the club members got together, they would draw their own transmutation circles and pretend to go on wild alchemic adventures. In this club were Kiersten, Ally, Jenna, and Steph, though Steph was not going home with the others today.

The three girls walked home with Kiersten's brothers, Thomas and Justin, and their other friends, Brian and Nathan. Nathan was also part of the club, but he wasn't up for the journey, if it was at all possible, to Amestris. He would rather stay in this dimension, and avoid all possible contact with those creepy Homunculi and chimeras.

"How goes moving the earth, alchemists?" chuckled Brian. He always made fun of them for their odd obsessions.

"Leave us alone, you big zit. It's just a club, we don't seriously believe that we can do all of that stuff just by drawing a picture and clapping our hands together!" shouted Jenna. They all knew that Brian was a bad boy, and to them, he was a stupid boy, even though he was their friend. They walked the rest of the way home, exchanging insults and giggling like pansies.

When the girls got home, they began to get ready for Girl scouts. After all, it was Friday, and they didn't want to get yelled at by Angel again for being late. They always seemed to be late recently. It was Kiersten's mom's fault, most of the time, though. But then the phone rang.

"Hello?" Kiersten spoke first.

"I'm beginning to take what you said earlier seriously. I found it. The Link to Amestris!" It was Steph.

"Seriously? How do you know?"

"On its cover is the word "Amestris" but there is no listed author. It has serious details, down to how each blade of grass blows in the breeze and the absolute location and classification down to the very last grain of sand! At the end of the book, there is a very realistic picture of the whole place. Even weirder, it's like one of those magic photos from Harry Potter! It moves! It's too much for my brain to take in, but you're the analytic one, you should be able to handle it."

"Saturday, okay? Let's all get together tomorrow and draw the circle!" Then they said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

"This is going to be awesome! We're actually going to go to Amestris! This is every Fullmetal Alchemist fan's dream come true!" shouted Jenna, all giddy-girlie like.

While they were at Girl Scouts later that night, all they would talk about was their future trip to Amestris. They told Arianna, who was also a Girl Scout, all about Steph's unusual discovery. Arianna was a little excited about the discovery. Perhaps she would have been more excited if she had actually watched the show and knew what it was about. However, she did express desire in going to Amestris with them. Unfortunately, she admitted that she was going out of town with her mom that weekend, and she wouldn't be able to join them.

When the Girl Scout meeting was over, Ally and Jenna went to sleep over at Kiersten's house. They dreamed of what they were going to do when they finally got to Amestris. Ally wanted to create a chimera or two. Jenna wanted to go out with Alphonse Elric. Kiersten wanted to master Alchemy in general. This was going to be the most exiting thing that would happen in their entire lives. Or so they thought…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Rhode Island, Earth – 2006**

It was Saturday, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon to be precise. Kiersten, Ally, Jenna, and Stephanie were all gathered around a very intricately drawn transmutation circle, complete with the hymn out of the book 'Alchemy for Beginners', designed entirely out of chalk, in the middle of Steph's driveway. Kiersten was carefully studying the last few pages of the Link to Amestris that Stephanie had discovered. Today the girls were going to go to Amestris. They were going to pass through The Gate. It was going to be the biggest day of their lives.

"Stephanie, where exactly did you find this journal?" asked Kiersten. All Links were hand written in a journal format, so she was obviously referring to the Link.

"I found it at the library. It was in the hand-written section of the library. I found it while I was looking for a journal to use for my book project. While I was looking through old journals, I came upon one with big, bold letters on the cover, titled Amestris. It startled me, at first, but then I began to think about what you had said. I went to check it out, but the librarian told me that it had never even been in the library's records. She said I could keep it. My curiosity was peaking by then, so I took it and brought it here," replied Steph.

Jenna was squealing with joy, she couldn't wait. Even Ally was jumpy and exited. As Kiersten finished skimming the Link, she could barely contain her own excitement.

"Okay, girls. Is everyone ready? Alright, we all have to kneel an equal distance apart. From our positions, we all have to touch the picture on the last page of the book. This part is very important. If we don't all touch it at the same time, we could get separated, and that is never a good thing."

Everyone got into their positions, using a string with exact measurements to make sure that they weren't even 1 millimeter off. Everything had to be 100% perfect, or else something could go terribly wrong. Kiersten was already making dangerous decisions by mixing the designs of the Link with Alchemy from Amestris. Creating the circle was the only way for all four of them to be transported at once.

"Ready?" said Kiersten. Everybody took in a deep breath. They told themselves that they were ready for anything, and they weren't going to get cold feet now, after all of this hard work and preparation. They raised their hands, in a ready position for that single fateful clap. "Now!"

There was the sound of one simultaneous clap, and then the four girls slapped their hands onto the circle. Each girl placed a hand on the picture on the last page of the Link. Yellow light began to surround them. Although it was just past mid-day, they sky began to grow dark. Dust particles that were previously resting on the ground were kicked up into the air by the swirling golden mists. The next thing they knew, there was one bolt of thunder that struck the center of the circle, and everything went dark. To them, at least. The rest of the world was as normal as ever. The only hint that the transmutation was a success was that the Link to Amestris was lying where the center of the circle was, and the circle that was drawn with chalk on the pavement had vanished without a trace.

After the momentary darkness, the girls found themselves standing in a large, white room. They were nothing more than dark shadows. At the far end of the room, there stood a large gate, with the pictogram of an eye carved into the center of the two stone doors. The Gate slowly began to open, and dark shapes emerged, beckoning for the girls to enter. Without hesitation, they walked into the total darkness. They soon regretted this decision.

It was as cold as a freezer in this pitch-black. Tiny icicles clung to their hair, the frigid wind whipping it at their faces. Their bodies instantly became numb with cold. There wasn't even one hint of warmth in this desolate place. It seemed as though thousands of eyes, filled with hatred, desire, and yet were vacant, stared at them through the darkness. Nothing could be heard above the constant shrieking sound except for one calm, clear voice that sounded compelling somehow, almost like that of a snake's…the voice of the keeper of The Gate.

"Why have you decided to cross into my domain, naïve ones?" hissed the voice. The girls instantly stopped their observations of the current surroundings. Now they were no longer frozen only by the cold, but they were also frozen by fear. The voice penetrated the shrieking again. "I am God."

Kiersten, Ally, Jenna, and Steph all knew that this creature only claimed to be God. In truth, it was just the part of the void. In fact, most people who had studied the gate believed the voice claiming to be God actually was the void, not just part of it. But the actual confrontation of it was far more frightening than any of the four friends could have ever imagined. Shivering in the bitter cold of the darkness between dimensions, the voice continued, its slithery voice stopping their hearts from beating, along with the rest of their bodies.

"You are all still children!" Was the creature of the void threatening them? "Remember your place, and try not to meddle too much." What did it mean by "meddle?" This was too much for a fourteen year old, a twelve year old, and two thirteen year olds to handle. It was just too much.

It was evident by the way this creature talked that it was obviously not God. God wouldn't sound like a sewer-rat trying to escape rat-poison. God wouldn't sound like a snake slithering secretly out of an empty rabbit hole with a full belly and claiming that the rabbit had just left the hole for a bit. And God was supposed to be the element with no boundaries. Alchemy was a science, and science had boundaries. They told themselves this over and over again to prevent themselves from dying of complete and utter fear and distraught. They wouldn't believe what the voice said. Besides, Kiersten didn't even believe in a God in the first place.

"Try not to meddle too much," repeated the voice. Out of nowhere, it seemed as if all of the oxygen, or whatever the girls were breathing, was just sucked out of the murky darkness between the two dimensions. A bold whistling sound mixed in with the loud shrieking and other background noises, and their bodies felt as if they were being torn into pieces. They were in total pain.

Suddenly, the veil of darkness dissipated, and light returned. Their bodies started to tingle all over; the sudden change from frigid cold to mellow warmth was taking its affects on them. They all looked up at the sky and stretched their arms. There was just one problem.

They were each separated from one another.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

**Slums, Amestris – 1921 **

Fire was everywhere. It engulfed the tents and sent sparks flying. Children were screaming, women were leading the people out of the camp, and men tried to hold back the soldiers. Once again, all of this death and destruction was caused by the military's hatred. Even though Mustang was now a Brigadier General, and the Military's role in the government had been replaced by a more peaceful organization, he could not stop this madness. In fact, this time, he was the one in charge of the battle.

But how could he have expected otherwise from any government at all? All the government had ever done was screw him over and destroy the lives of millions of innocent people. The only reason he rejoined after the return of Edward and Alphonse was because he knew that he had not yet attained his goal of becoming a head member of the government and being able to undo all the bullshit they created.

Brigadier General Roy Mustang was once a lazy, handsome, and powerful man. He was still lazy and powerful, but much of the beauty of his face had been taken from him. The one time he did the right thing, he was punished for it… Roy always thought this to himself. He had midnight-black hair and never-ending pools of onyx in his right eye that seemed to hold the secrets of a troubled past. Just one year ago, he was the one who defeated the Homunculus named Pride. But he was playing with fire, and he lost an eye and half of his face due to his recklessness. He now wore an eye-patch to hide his shame.

Colonel Riza Hawkeye stood by Mustang's side. She was silently crying, yet she still looked dignified. Her head was straight up, facing forward, and regardless of the tears streaming down her face, she made no sound and kept a straight face.

Another explosion went of. BA-BA-BOOM! Riza winced slightly, the debris flying everywhere. She couldn't believe that the man she so dearly devoted herself to would actually accept this mission. But maybe, she thought, he didn't have a choice…

A few hours later, the Slum camp was completely incinerated, and not one person, save the military, was still lingering. To Mustang's surprise, there were only three casualties. He was so relieved, but only for a moment. He saw a teenage girl, buried under the rubble, gasping for help. She had shoulder length, dark brown hair that almost looked black. She had dark tan skin, as if she was from Lior or Ishbal, but the color of her eyes reassured him. She was definitely from Lior, he thought. She had chocolate brown eyes that were slightly darker and less orange than the color of Riza's. She was covered in dirt from the rubble that she was buried in. It was none other than Jenna.

He went in to help the girl.

"Are you okay? We'll get you out!" said Mustang. Riza rand over and touched the girl's arm, breaking her out of her teary hysteria. But when the girl opened her eyes, she tried to fight away Roy and Riza.

"Get away! It's all your fault! Get away from me!" she screamed and thrashed with all of her might.

"Stop it, girl, we are just trying to help you!" declared Riza.

"Yeah, right! If you really wanted to help you wouldn't have trapped me here! You wouldn't have tried to kill me and the others! What did you do with my friends?!" she wouldn't stop thrashing around.

Mustang grabbed his pistol and whacked her in the back of the head with it. Jenna instantly passed out from the force of the blow. "That should calm her down. Hawkeye, let's take her to medical." Riza nodded in his direction. She saw that a large purple whelp was forming on her neck.

"You shouldn't have done that, Brigadier General. You could have given the young girl a concussion."

Together, the two dug her out of the rubble and managed to carry her back to the base for medical care. Riza sat patiently by her bed while Roy was out getting some lunch for the two of them. Her blonde hair was out of its clip, and it draped around her shoulders. She now wore a dark green dress with a pink jacket and pink boots.

A few hours passed, Roy and Riza had eaten lunch, and the girl was still sleeping. Roy was dozing off in a chair, and Riza was still sitting in the exact same position. Seconds later, Jenna's eyes fluttered as she began to awaken. At first it started out calm, but then she looked as if she was suffering from a minor seizure. Riza panicked, and she woke Roy up right away.

"Roy! Look! What on earth is going on? What's happening to that girl?"

Roy awoke with a start, and fell out of his chair face-first. He looked around the room, and his mouth practically dropped to the floor. "Alchemy? But…how? There are no alchemists in this building – except for me – but I didn't…"

"Alchemy? But sir, it looks as if she's experiencing a seizure!"

The girl sat straight up, expressionless. The white sheets fell off of her. Her eyes were vacant – there were no pupils, and no shine in them, only the chocolaty color showed. Her convulsions ceased. Within moments her eyes reverted to the way that normal human eyes should be. She let out a little shriek and started freaking out.

"What…where am I? What's going on? Where're Steph, and Kiersten, and…and Ally?" She looked down at her hands. "Ah! I'm animated! That means…it worked! All right!" She stopped freaking out and she started to look all happy and ditzy. She jumped up out of the bed, but collapsed immediately, screaming in pain.

"Your legs are broken, don't move around too much," said Riza calmly.

"What?! How'd my legs break?" the girl asked cheerfully, even though tears of pain were streaming down her face.

"Don't you remember? A building collapsed on you and…" Roy began.

"No, no, no. I'm not from this world. I'm from Earth. I came here with my friends. Where are they?"

"There was no one with you when we found you. Are you sure there were others?" asked Riza.

"Oh, now I'm beginning to remember. Kiersten said that we might end up in different places depending on where the other part of our soul was. I just assumed our souls would all be in the same place. Tell me, how old is Alphonse Elric at this time?"

"What are you talking about?!" asked Riza, growing more confused by the minute.

"Alphonse Elric? What relevance does this have to anything?" asked Roy dumb-founded.

"Just tell me."

"He's sixteen. Why?" he replied.

"Yes! He's a little old for me, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thank you for all of your help, Roy, Riza," she said, crawling to her bed.

"How do you know who we are?" asked Riza.

"I told you, I'm not from this place."

"That's all the more reason for us to ask you!"

"I know everything about Amestris. Well, maybe not everything. But I'm sure that Kiersten does! By the way, I'm Jenna. It's nice to finally meet you in person!" She suddenly seemed to lose all of her giddiness and appeared as if she would fall asleep in a mere matter of seconds. "I think all of this excitement just drained all of the energy out of me…" Jenna then collapsed into a deep sleep from relief and exhaustion.

"Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be really strange, sir?" asked Riza.

"It already is, Hawkeye. It already is."

While Jenna slept, her memories slowly returned to her. She recalled what it was like inside the gate, and what that mysterious disembodied voice had said to them. The last thing that she thought before her dream-world turned black was, "This is going to be fun."

**Dublith, Amestris – 1921**

In another part of Amestris, Ally found herself in asleep in an alchemic lab. She slowly woke up, confused and on the verge of panicking.

"What? Where am I?" she asked. Much to her surprise, a voice answered her question. It sounded oddly animal like, as if the voice did not come from a human speaker.

"You're in your lab, Mama. You collapsed a little while back. We were so worried. Do you remember anything?" said the voice.

"Huh? We?" asked Ally.

The owner of the inhuman voice walked into plain sight of Ally, along with a number of other strange creatures that appeared to be made up of a mixture of different animals. The one who had spoken was mostly a beautiful wolf, though a large pair of eagle wings sprouted up from its shoulder blades. It, along with all the other creatures, had glowing yellow eyes. It took a moment for Ally to realize that what she was looking at was a group of Chimeras. Her heart began to race as she struggled to move, but her body was unused to the kind of stress she was left with after passing through the gate.

"Where are Steph and Kiersten? Where's my sister Jenna?" she asked the Chimeras.

"Who are you talking about, Mama? Who are these people you speak of? You do not have a sister!" said a different Chimera. This one looked like a squirrel with wings. It must have been part squirrel, part bird.

"Are you feeling alright, Mama?" asked a third Chimera. This one appeared to me part cat and part raven. It walked over to Ally and put its warm, soft paw against Ally's forehead, as if taking her temperature. At first, Ally flinched at its touch, but then she began to calm down. She closed her eyes as memories of her parallel life in Amestris began to flow into her mind. It must have been triggered by the touch of the Chimera.

In her memory, a young girl was drawing transmutation circles all over the walls and the floor. The room was lit by candle fire. Twelve pieces of used-up chalk lay spread out along the ground. In fact, it was the very room she had awoken in upon her arrival to this world. Two strange beasts with glowing yellow eyes sat patiently by the girl's side. One looked like a mix between a wolf and an eagle. That was the one that had first spoken to her when she woke up. The other looked like a mix between a squirrel and a pigeon.

"Looks like this time I'm finally going to get it right, Ulv, Tallia. I'm going to create a Chimera like you two, one that can talk without having any genes of a human. And it won't be in pain, either. Yes…just a few more elements…"

"Mama, make sure to make this one pain-free as well. You forgot that crucial element last time, and his cries were terrible. I had to crunch off his head to end his suffering," said the one that was half-wolf half-eagle. This one was Ulv. Ally was beginning to hear the subtle feminine undertone to the animal-like voice. Ulv was a girl.

"Yes, yes, I know, Ulv," replied Ally.

"Are you going to make this one with the ability to fly as well? It is terribly fun, you know. Ooh! And give it a pretty name! And make sure that this one doesn't eat squirrels or birds. I don't want another repeat of Ulv before we trained her…" said the little half-squirrel half-pigeon chimera as she fluttered around. This one was Tallia.

"Yes, I get it. Ulv, go fetch me the sterilized water. Tallia, fetch me the cat-grass. You girls want a little sister or a little brother?"

"Sister!" the two chimeras chimed at the same time as they ran out of the dark room to fetch the items.

Ally was skimming through her notebook, making sure she had all of the necessary ingredients for her new chimera. In this world, Ally was the self-proclaimed Linking Blood Alchemist. The reason that was not her official title was because she was not a State Alchemist. Her alchemic specialty was creating pain-free chimeras. Usually, the ones she made could also talk, and the most amazing thing about her creations was that no human genes were used at all to create them. She refused to mar the lives of perfectly healthy creatures, so she only turned animals into Chimeras that would otherwise have died without the support of being joined together with another body. Though she took great care of her creations and loved them all as if they were her own children, only two so far had survived passed their first year. Those two were Ulv and Tallia.

The two Chimeras returned with the ingredients requested. Ally placed them in the transmutation circle on the ground along with the others. Then she took a raven and a black cat from their sick-beds and placed them in the circle, too. She could see that the cat, who had been hit by a car, was hanging on by the last threads of her life. Ally only had a few minutes left before the cat was beyond help. She clapped her hands together, but right as she touched the circle, she passed out. She collapsed on the ground as the cat and the raven joined together to form a Chimera.

The two chimeras huddled around her. "Mama!" squeaked Tallia. The new Chimera opened its eyes to see the other two looking worriedly at the human girl on the ground.

"Did she save me?" asked the newborn.

"Yes, she did," said Ulv, her voice cracking. "But we don't know what happened to her."

"Is she my mama?"

"She is all of our mothers," answered Tallia.

That was when Ally woke up again, though this time it was the Ally of Earth, not the Ally that had created these beautiful Chimeras.

"So…you are all like my children?" asked Ally, now that she knew what was going on and was a little more calm.

"Yes…do you not remember us?" asked Tallia.

"I'm not really the Ally you all know. I'm from another world. Wow, this is so totally awesome! The only thing I ever wanted to do in Amestris that I couldn't do in the real world was create chimeras, and my alternate-dimension self is an expert on it! I guess it really is the other part of my soul. This is going to be so much fun!"

"So, how long will you be staying here in this world?" asked the nameless Chimera.

"I really don't know. Only my friend Kiersten knows how to get us back, and if I don't find her I could be in big trouble. I have to find the others, or I will be stuck here forever! Who knows what could happen?"

"Don't worry; we'll help you find them. Just tell us one thing, exactly. How did you get here? And why are you here?" questioned Ulv.

Ally began to explain everything that Kiersten had first explained to her, at least as well as she could, and she told the three chimeras what had happened within the gate. The chimeras seemed to understand, and they agreed to help her out. They started to sift through a bunch of junk and collect the necessities for the trip.

"Before we go, I think the first thing we need to do is give you a name," she said happily to the half-cat half-raven Chimera. "What do you think of Rayne?"

"It's perfect!" said the Chimera, full of joy at being given the opportunity of starting a new life with this wonderful girl.

"Now, let's get going," said Ally. "This is going to be fun!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**Central, Amestris – 1921**

Steph awoke in a soft bed in an unfamiliar hotel room. A woman who looked an awful lot like her mother was standing in front of a mirror and combing her hair. She was wearing a military uniform that strongly resembled the uniforms worn in Amestris. Steph rubbed the dizziness from her eyes as she got out of the bed.

"It's about time you woke up, Sweetie," the woman said to her. "I thought you weren't going to wake up in time for the party."

"Party?" asked Steph. "What party? What are you talking about, and where am I?"

The woman immediately stopped brushing her hair and turned towards Steph, worry etched into her face. "Stephanie, are you feeling alright?"

"Who are you?!"

"Stephanie, I'm your mother!" said the woman, scared now.

Then Steph started to piece things together as her memories trickled back to her. She and the others had passed through the gate using the Link to Amestris, but something must have gone wrong since they were all separated from one another. She didn't want to alarm her alternate-dimension mom any further than she already had, so she quickly thought up a lie in her head. "Oh, sorry Mom. I was still dreaming a little. I'm up now."

The woman exhaled and turned back to the mirror as she finished doing her hair. "You gave me quite a scare there, Steph. Now, why don't you go and get dressed so we're not too late."

Steph complied, and she went to the closet and picked out a nice blue outfit. She had no idea what was in store for her today, but she was sincerely hoping that she would be able to find at least one of her friends at the party.

Music blasted through the walls of the Cafeteria in Central Headquarters. It had been two days since the clearing of the Slums and the discovery of Jenna by Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye. The entire military staff was partying like never before. The whole room was flashing all of the colors of the rainbow, and everyone seemed to be on a sugar high. First-Lieutenant Jean Havoc was doing the robot in the center of the dance floor, a cigarette stiff in his mouth. Master Sergeant Cain Feury was surrounded with puppies, he picked a few of them up and snuggled them close to his face while um…waltzing with them…to hip-hop music. Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong was break-dancing on a table, showing off his pecks, with hundreds of glittery pink sparkles surrounding him. Sergeant Ross was near the punch table; she had already gone through two entire punch bowls, and a third one, half-empty, was dangerously close to her. She was chattering on and on with Sergeant Bloch like there was no tomorrow, eyeing the punch-bowl suspiciously as if keeping an eye out for anyone else that wanted to steal a sip of her punch.

Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye walked into the room, pushing Jenna in a wheelchair. The twelve year old couldn't believe her eyes. This room was what paradise must have been like. Rainbows, laughing, loud music, and ridiculous dance moves flooded her senses. She wanted so badly to join them, but her broken legs prevented her from doing so.

A woman with slightly curled shoulder length blonde hair wearing a female military uniform walked through into the area with a fourteen year old girl by her side. This girl was none other than Steph. The woman who walked in with Steph (who closely resembled Steph's Earth mother) scanned the crowd, as if expecting someone to be there. Then she grabbed the nearest microphone and shouted, "It's time for the karaoke dance-party contest! Everybody who wishes to join in must get your butts on stage right now!"

About twelve military personnel (including Alex Louis Armstrong) skipped happily on stage. Breda was the first one to go. His mediocre singing ability and lack of silly dance moves didn't wow the crowd. His performance wasn't impressive.

"You two should do a duet," suggested Jenna. "I think it would be sweet."

"Sweet?!" exclaimed Roy Mustang. "Why must everyone in this damn place accuse us of being a couple?!"

"Come now, Roy, it could be fun," said Riza, a ring of playfulness in her voice that was seldom heard by any living being.

Roy calmed down as he submitted to his subordinate's wishes. The two of them got up on stage and preformed with such charming passion that the room roared with mushy-gushy romantic comments and jests towards them. The whole crowd cheered. They sang so sweetly together, even if they did claim that there was no such relationship between the two. As they got down from the stage, Riza smiled and laughed while Roy grumbled miserably to himself that he would never live this down.

Next up was Cain Feury, who preformed his song with all the dogs in the room. This, of course, had the entire room busting up with laughter. Especially since he was dancing with about five or six dogs, including Black Hayate.

Jean Havoc performed to a bizarre heavy-metal sounding song. It was totally hilarious. He tripped over his own feet twice, and had put on a face like he badly needed to…you know, break something. Most likely his neck. The entire staff busted up laughing.

Then someone unexpected showed up…Maes Hughes. With (dum-dum-dum…) a picture of his beloved daughter, Elysia in his hand.

Roy stammered, "Hughes, I thought you were incapacitated! Pushing up daisies! Dead!" Tears came to his eyes but did not spill over as he remembered Hughes' tragic death and subsequent funeral.

"Hell no, old buddy old pal! That whole Envy incident was just a big elaborate scheme! That was my twin brother and stunt-double, David Hughes. I'm sorry that he died that night, but to make it seem as though it had really been me, I had to stay clear of the production company for the rest of the season. It would have been problematic if the Homunculi found out I was still alive," replied Hughes. That last comment about staying clear of a production company confused the heck out of Mustang, but he figured that it was just another one of Hughes' peculiar and abstract jokes.

Roy turned white. "How come you never told me that you had a twin brother!?" screamed Roy, pointing his finger accusingly at Hughes.

"Because he was such a trouble maker, Mom and Pop had his identity erased from the record books. Smart kid, though. Every time that I was sick, instead of calling in sick, I would send my dear brother in. It just so happened that I was sick the day I supposedly got murdered. Poor guy, my brother wasn't supposed to die that day. And poor Elysia and Gracia, too…to make it convincing I had to make them believe that it was really me, so I had to go into hiding for all these long years."

"What?!" and with that, Roy passed out and had to be rushed to the infirmary. It was so unlike him, but seeing his dead friend suddenly alive and well again was just too much for him to handle.

From the corner of the stage, Steph continued to scan the crowd for one of her friends. Just as Roy Mustang was being carried to the infirmary, Steph saw someone who looked an awful lot like Jenna in a wheelchair being pushed by Riza Hawkeye. Without a second thought, she rushed down from the stage and caught up with the girl in the wheelchair.

"That has to be Jenna!" she thought to herself. "Jenna, it's me, Steph! Don't you recognize me?" she said out loud.

Jenna turned around and started laughing as soon as she saw Steph's familiar face. "Steph? Is that really you? Ha! Boy, am I glad to see you! Have you met up with the others yet?"

Steph thought for a moment. "No, I haven't seen your sister or the genius who brought us here. When I find her I'm gonna strangle her brains out!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! It's nothing to get upset about."

"What do you mean nothing to get upset about? My mom is a General in the military, your legs are both broken, Ally and Kiersten are missing, and we're all stranded in another world with no way home!"

Riza looked at the fourteen year old girl who had begun chattering to Jenna. "Excuse me," she began. "Do you two know each other?"

"Yes, actually. We came to this world together. We're looking for our friends so that we can get back home," said Steph.

"I promised this young lady that I would help her find her friends," said Riza. "Would you like my assistance?"

"Thank you for your offer," said Steph, "but I think there's someone who needs your company far more than we do at the moment." Riza knew that the "someone" Steph was talking about was Roy. "We really need to get going now. Could you point us in the direction of the train station?"

Riza then gave them detailed instructions on how to get to the station. "Here," she added, handing them a pouch of money. "You'll need this, or you won't be able to get any boarding tickets."

"Thank you for everything you've done for us, Miss Hawkeye," said Jenna. With that, Steph grabbed hold of Jenna's wheelchair and began running as fast as she could through the crowds and out the door, with Riza waving goodbye and good luck to the two of them.

After they had exited the building, the dancing and the music resumed, and it could be heard blasting through the walls once more. "You know what?" asked Steph.

"What?" replied Jenna.

"Even though I'm a little scared and a little mad, this might actually turn out to be fun."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

**Resembool, Amestris – 1921**

Kiersten woke up in the middle of an empty road with a bag of groceries spilled next to her. She rubbed her head, trying to remember why it was that she was here, and why she had an incredibly terrible headache. Slowly but surely, foreign and familiar memories came back to her. After memories of the gate passed, images flashed in her mind of her Amestris-self.

She remembered walking down the street, her hands full of groceries. It was well past midnight in Resembool, but that didn't stop this young alchemist from wandering about doing errands.

Around her neck she wore the sacred alchemist's charm. Even Edward Elric wore this symbol on the back of his red jacket. She was an alchemist, and a skilled one at that. She was known as the "Celestial Alchemist", and she and others like her used their skills to help the people of Amestris. She belonged to a society called "The Alchemists Guild" where the scientists researched new kinds of alchemy. That was ironic, thought Kiersten, because in her world she had been part of a fan club called the Alchemists Guild.

When the memories stopped, she looked all around her. She began picking up the scattered items and putting them back in the large bag that had spilled all of its contents onto the ground. When everything was back in place, she picked up the bag and began heading to where she knew the Rockbells lived. She could tell that she was in Resembool from the vast empty plains of grass. She figured that maybe Winry might know something about her Amestris-self.

As Kiersten turned the corner, she saw a girl with long black hair, standing, and staring at the ground. She was wearing a simply made tiny little black dress that came down to her knees. She was barefoot. Her left fist, which was made out of automail, was clenched tightly, and her right arm was missing. Kiersten looked a little closer at the young girl. Fragments of metal were dropping occasionally from where her missing arm should have been attached to her shoulder. Tears were rolling gently off of her face, and they hit the ground without a sound.

She must only be around six or seven years old! She wonder what had happened to her. She put down her bags of groceries and walked over to the crying child. "What's the matter? Did something happen to you?" Kiersten asked sweetly.

"I'm…looking for…a mechanic. I can't…seem…to find her…" replied the girl.

"Who is she? Maybe I can help?" said Kiersten.

"Rockbell. Winry… Rockbell."

"Winry? I know her, oh; you must need her to repair your arm. Just follow me, I'm heading over to her place right now." Kiersten picked up her groceries and started to walk to her house, the crying child following close behind. "What's your name, kid?"

"I don't…want to tell you my name."

"What was that?" Kiersten was startled by the child's comment.

"My name is unimportant…and…" she started to explain. "I can…tell that you…are…an alchemist…"

"What does alchemy have anything to do with your name?"

"Nothing…"

"Alright then, I won't pry."

The girl knew that if she told the alchemist her name, she would use that nasty charm of hers to send her back to The Gate. And she was terrified of The Gate.

"That's okay, then, I guess… Let's just get home, I'm a bit jumpy." Kiersten was a little confused on the matter. She felt a strange lack of aura around the girl, and she had no idea why. Unless…she was a Homunculus, and her body was devoid of a soul… but then…Kiersten's thoughts were interrupted by a loud clanging sound.

"EDWARD YOU MORON!" shouted a girl.

It was definitely Winry, bashing poor Ed on the head with her wrench again. Every time that Ed came home, his automail was always trashed up, and Winry didn't exactly take kindly to the fact that Edward always managed to destroy the automail that she put her heart and soul into.

"I swear, one of these days, she is going to give that poor guy brain damage," Kiersten said to herself. She was not looking forward to Winry's and Ed's screaming and clanging all night long, the same as every time he returned from his travels. When Kiersten opened the door to Winry's House, all action that was previously going on stopped - mid-place.

"Evelyn?" said Winry, wide-eyed.

"Evelyn?" repeated Kiersten, now even more confused.

Winry dropped her wrench and released her tight grasp on Edward's long blonde hair. "Evelyn, is that you? What happened to you? You're just as bad as Ed! Every time you two come back here, you're all busted up!" Winry then walked towards the girl, who she was calling Evelyn. "You really live up to your name, Wrath."

So witch one was really the girl's name, Evelyn or Wrath?

Ed recovered from his daze and stomped to his feet. "Wrath?!? I'll show you wrath, Winry, if you don't stop bashing me over the head with that damn wrench!"

"No, Ed, you idiot! Look, it's Wrath! That Homono-watcha-ma-call-it kid!" yelled Winry.

"Winry, please keep it down. I don't want to listen to you and Mr. Pipsqueak bashing it out all night!"

As if on cue, Ed jumped up from the ground, in a crazed frenzy. "Who are you calling a bean-sprout midget?!?" roared Ed. He started stomping around the room like a steer with mad-cow disease.

"Hey…Winry…I'm sorry for…for busting this arm again…" This time it was the little girl who spoke. Winry hugged the little girl as if she was comforting a younger sister. Ed calmed down again.

"Hey, hey, hold up here? Just who is this kid, Win?" stammered Kiersten.

"She's Evelyn, or Wrath, one of the…"

But then Wrath cut her off. "Don't say it!" It was too late; Kiersten had finally gathered what was going on. This girl's name was Wrath, it wasn't a nickname. And Wrath was the name of one of the infamous homunculus…one of the seven deadly sins.

Kiersten grabbed her pendant and proceeded to complete the circle so she could send Wrath back to The Gate. There was no way that she was going to let her endanger the life of one of her favorite characters.

"No!" Winry jumped in front of Wrath, protecting her as if she were just a regular child. "She's not a bad kid! She's not the same as the others! She fights against the bad ones to stop history from repeating itself! She's on our side!"

Kiersten dropped her pendant and nodded. "Okay."

Alphonse Elric was outside, standing by the door. He finally had a human body after all these years, thanks to the perseverance of his brother. But he wanted to avoid any more screaming matches between Winry and his older brother. The worst part about it, thought Alphonse, was that this was their deranged way of flirting. "Why does Edward always get the better end of the string?" he said to himself. He opened the window a little bit so he could still hear the conversation going on inside.

"I am one of the only Homunculi who still possess a conscious," Wrath began to explain. "Winry gave me the name Evelyn when she found me, after the girl I was supposed to be so that I wouldn't cause any more trouble. All of the old Homunculi were either killed or they mysteriously disappeared. But now…now there is a new generation of homunculus. They have the same abilities as the previous seven but no one knows where they came from. I…fear it will not be an easy task to destroy them this time…they do not have the same goals as the others and I did, and I am unaware of who their human selves were."

While Kiersten and Winry listened to Wrath and Winry worked on his automail, Edward was sprawled out lazily on the couch while he waited for Winry to start on his arm.

Silence filled the room. Well, almost. There was still the crick, crick, crick sound from Winry's wrench working on Evelyn's arm. It was already about a fourth of the way finished. Winry had always been passionate about automail. She even referred to herself as "The Great and Beautiful Mechanic, Winry Rockbell."

Kiersten leaned back on her seat. It was past 2 o'clock on the morning already, and she wished she could just find her friends so she could tell them just what kind of a situation they had gotten themselves into. She wondered if they had found each other already, or if they had met up with other familiar faces from Amestris.

BANG-CRACK-SNAP-WHOOSH-THWOP! A huge sound resonated throughout Resembool. Everybody looked up from what they were doing, startled by the sound. Alphonse rushed inside and slammed the door behind him, a terrified look on his face. Just minutes later, footsteps could be heard approaching the Rockbell door. The knob of the front door began to turn.

"Oh no, oh no…" The color (what little of it there was) drained from Evelyn's face. "It's them."

"By them, you don't mean…?" Winry began.

"Alphonse, Winry, Kiersten! Get Pinako and get out of here!" shouted Ed.

"No way, how the hell are you supposed to fight them with an arm missing?!?" Alphonse shouted back at Ed.

"Get out of here!" This time it was Evelyn who spoke. "They're after me."

The door began to open. Winry grabbed her dog, Den, and ran out to the shed to get Granny Pinako, with Ed, Al, and Kiersten following close behind. Wrath used alchemy to create a rock blocker. "You won't get me that easily." She stared at it for a few second to make sure that it was as good a she could make it, made a "thumbs up", and gave a frightened half-smile. She turned around and quickly ran after the others.

The person that was trying to get into the Rockbell household banged on the door for a few moments. Then a feminine fist crashed through the door. Another, larger fist ripped the door off its hinges and swung it against the rock blocker. The door slammed opened all the way, and Evelyn's rock blocker snapped into hundreds of splinters, flying all over the room.

"Damn, too bad! Looks like no one's home," said a girl with short, black hair that was styled like a punk-rocker's hair. An ouroboros tattoo was on her left thigh. She wore a black mini-skirt and a turtle-neck belly-shirt. She wore elbow-length gloves without fingers. Her feet were covered by stockings without toes or heels. She appeared to be around the age of seventeen. Her name was Envy, the homunculus with the power to change into any other form.

"Aw, I wanted to eat someone…I'm hungry, Lust!" said a short, fat man who looked like he badly needed a shower and a shave. His eyes were small, beady, and were devoid of pupils. He wore a tight black jump-suit, which revealed his many rolls of fat. His feet were so tiny that they looked as if there was no possible way that they could support the heavy-man's enormous weight. This was Gluttony, the homunculus whose sole purpose in life was to eat everything out of existence.

"Look, Envy, Gluttony, there was someone here just seconds ago. I bet they're still nearby. They couldn't have gotten too far." A woman with short, straight, black hair walked calmly into the room. She wore a tight black dress, cut rather low at the top, showing the ouroboros just above her breasts. Her arms were covered by long black gloves. She was the new Lust, but while the old Lust was probably the most human of all, this Lust was as cold as iron.

Another female figure walked into the room. "Lust, let's go, before they get too far ahead of us." This girl looked as if she was in her mid-twenties, and only one of her eyes had a silver pupil. Her other eye had the ouroboros on it. She wore an open black vest that reached up just below her chin with a black sports bra underneath. She wore long, tight, bell-bottom black pants and black high-heel sandals. She had long black hair that reached below her waist, and it was pulled back in a braid. Her name was Pride, the only homunculus who could predict the future.

"Alright, Pride. Let's go." The woman named Lust smiled evilly as she extended one of her fingers in the blink of an eye, and it pierced through the back door. She then ripped it off of its hinges. "This is going to be fun."

The group had already gotten south of Resembool. Kiersten was sprinting for her life, sticking close to Ed, Al, Winry, Pinako and Den. The homunculi were still hot on their trail, even though all traces of the night had vanished with the dawn. The group was running low on energy; there was no way that they could keep this up for much longer. If they didn't find an ideal sanctuary, they would all be doomed.

They wound up near a river bank shrouded in trees. Just as they were about to sit down and rest, huge snapping sound echoed through the area. They all got silent. They heard voices talking from a short distance away. It was the Homunculi.

"Lust…I don't think we're in Resembool any more…" said Gluttony.

"Well, then, we'll just have to turn back. We've got unfinished business to attend to," Lust replied.

"Aw, but we chased them all the way here, why not just finish them off now?" complained Envy.

"Oh, stop complaining Envy. We'll finish off the automail mechanics some other time." This time it was Pride who spoke.

"Oh, phooey. I hate it when you do this. We need to get rid of them quick so Fullmetal can't get those limbs of his repaired."

"Envy, just relax. Listen to Pride and me. We'll get the job done, but right now we have more pressing matters to attend to. We wouldn't want to anger the boss, now would we?"

"Back to Resembool! Back to Resembool!" squealed Gluttony.

Envy turned towards the wooded area and called out, "You can't hide forever, Rockbell girls! We're coming to get you, and we'll get you when you've got your backs towards us!" And then the group of Homunculi turned and walked away.

Edward let out a long breath. "You mean they didn't know we were with you guys, Winry?"

"I guess not," Winry replied, letting out an equally long breath.

Kiersten stood up to dust herself off. "If they had known, I don't think that they would have let us go so easily. What do you think they meant by having other business to attend to?" She subconsciously clapped her hands together to get the dust away, and she brushed her hands against her side. Just as Kiersten was about to lean back on one of the trees, she felt a stinging sensation pulse through her body. She yelped a little and she jumped up.

"Kiersten, are you okay?" asked Alphonse.

"Yeah, but…Ah," Kiersten screamed. She gripped her elbows hard, and her body started glowing with alchemist light. The wind picked up and swirled in a vortex around her body. She screamed out at the top of her lungs in fear.

"Edward, what did you do?!" screeched Winry over the howling winds.

"I didn't do anything!" he yelled back at her. At this point, everyone had their ears covered in an attempt to block out the terrible noise.

Almost as suddenly as it had begun, the light around Kiersten died down. She dropped to her knees and then ultimately fell over face-first into the ground. Silence filled the air. It was far too silent.

Edward walked over to the fallen girl and turned her over with his human arm. "Kiersten? Are you okay?" There was no answer. He put his fingers under her nose to see if any air was being blown out or breathed in. "She's not breathing!" he exclaimed.

Alphonse rushed over to her. "Kiersten!"

Winry was looking around frantically. "Does anyone know CPR?"

Alphonse took a deep breath. "I do." He knelt over Kiersten and opened her mouth. Just as he was about to begin the process, her eyes sprung open and she almost screamed, but it was muffled by Alphonse's mouth. He jumped backwards after half-a-second, realizing that she was fully conscious and breathing. "Ah! I'm so sorry, Kiersten!" he exclaimed.

The group all looked at her fearfully. "Are you alright?" Pinako asked. "What happened?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "I think I accidentally performed Alchemy on myself. I'm just not used to stuff like that."

"What are you talking about?" said Ed. "You're a master Alchemist, how could you not be used to it?"

"I've got to tell you something," began Kiersten, laughing softly to herself. "I'm not really the Kiersten that you all know; I'm from another world." Then she turned towards Edward. "You, Edward, of all people should know what it is I'm talking about. I'm from the other side of the Gate."

Edward gawked at her. "You can't be serious."

"I am. Really. It's okay if you don't completely trust me, I don't mind." Kiersten stretched out her arm as if she wanted to shake hands with Edward.

Edward shook her hand, and they all laughed. "Well now that that's over, we need to head over to Central. We need to warn them of what's been going on, and I'm sure that they'd be more than willing to let everyone have a room since Winry and Pinako's house got trashed."

Alphonse was still huddled to himself, blushing insanely from what started out as CPR but ended up being a kiss. "Sh-should w-w-we g-get going th-then?" he asked nervously.

Ed chuckled and patted his little brother on the back. "Yeah, Al, let's go. What, you embarrassed or something?"

"N-No!" Alphonse retorted.

Everyone laughed.

"Let's get going, or we'll never make it to the train station before breakfast time," said Winry.

"I thought Ed was the only one who thought with his stomach!" said Pinako. Winry took out her wrench, but didn't hit her grandma over the head considering the fact that only Ed deserved that kind of brutal love.

They all started walking out of the wooded area and headed for the train station. "You know what?" asked Kiersten.

"What?" replied Winry.

"This is going to be fun."


End file.
